Saturday, April 11, 2015

Police
forces throughout the country, responding to charges of racial
prejudice, have pledged to shoot more white people.

Set
'Em Up Again, Charlie:The
FBI has cracked another FBI-originated plan to attempt
to set off a fake bomb at a time
and placeof
their choosing. The dupe this time was a 20 year old Kansan that the
Bureau had been manipulating for over a year. New
Indoor Record:
Student loan debt in the US has now reached $1.2 trillion – most
of which will never be paid back. Inertia:
In the first two months of 2015, sales of durable goods in the US
fell the most since 2009. As demand weakened, manufacturers'
inventories have grown to a six-year high. Metals,
machinery and professional equipment such as computers are among the
products sitting in warehouses waiting for buyers.
Expect widespread factory slowing until sales pick up enough to move
the excess off the shelves. The
strong dollar isn't helping, either. Where's
The Mirror?
Obama has taken China to task for using its size and power to “force
other counties into subordinate positions.” That, he said, was the
perogative
of the United States. Hot
Enough For Ya?
California's last 12 months of drought is without precedent since at
least 1895. Ditto the year before that. And the one before that,
too. Tree-ring records show it is the worst drought in over a
thousand years. The last year was 2.5°C above the states 20th
century average, which doesn't sound bad until you learn that
globally the difference between the hottest year on record (2014) and
the coldest one (1911) is less than that. The IPCC predicts that the
conditions in California now will become the norm for most of us
before the end of the century. This isn't the end. This is just the
beginning. It's going to get worse, and not just in the Southwest.

Happier
Birthday To Me:
Jason Lee, then the managing director of Goldman Sachs’
convertible bond banking branch, didn't understand that the perks
that come with being one of the Masters of the Universe did not
include being able to rape an Irish tourist just because it was his
birthday.

Out
The Window:
Amsterdam's red-lit window brothels are being closed, much to the
dismay of the city's 7,000 sex workers who say they are losing safe
places to ply their legitimate profession. First
they closed most of the marijuana
shops
and now this! Taking
It Easy:Financial
managers handling the NYC Pension Fund's $160 billion nest egg –
80% of
which is held in ordinary stocks and bonds – have paid themselves a
bit over $2 billion in the last ten years while passing on $40
million to the employee fund. Porn
O'Graph:
We are there.

Charles,I love daily summary of news to know, with your short humorous summaries. Thanks for your daily work.As pessimistic as I feel sometimes when reading what's happening, I'm always on the lookout for some good news.Re: the drought in CA: recent reports show weather patterns in the Pacific have changed drastically (some attribute the rapid change to massive Cyclone Pam which destroyed Vanuatu). Looks like maybe a return of a strong El Nino, which historically has provided much needed moisture to the west coast. Here's hoping they get some relief.

Anony1006 - I don't know whether I'm in favor of some relief for California or not. Too many people in a place with too little water - in the long run it was always going to turn our badly; now the long run is much shorter.

As for an increase in the El Nino rains, as I understand the science, the warming of the Arctic has so decreased the temperature gradient between the Arctic and the temperate regions that there is a good chance that the El Nino rains will sweep northward towards Canada and away from southern and mid-California.

As for the daily parade of the puss and pockmarks of our society, some days - no, most days, I take notes on what the cops and the surveillance state are doing to us and then, in despair, chuck 'em. Only occasionally do I get so frustrated that I compile a paragraph of outrages...

Our Motto

Keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.